The World Junior Figure Skating Championships are less than a week away, and there’s a good chance you don’t even know who most of these kids are. In men’s singles, there are 44 competitors on the list, almost half of whom won’t even qualify to perform their free skates. This guide covers the 22 athletes most… Continue reading 2017 Junior Worlds Field Guide: Men Part 2
Tag: 2016-17 season
2017 Junior Worlds Field Guide: Men Part 1
If you’re not following junior-level figure skating, the World Junior Figure Skating Championships is your excuse to start. For one thing, a lot of the athletes currently competing at the second-highest level will move up just in time to contend for the Olympics, so it’s worth getting to know them now. For another, the level… Continue reading 2017 Junior Worlds Field Guide: Men Part 1
2017 Asian Winter Games Recap: Triumph of the Improv Quad
It is lovely to finally have time to write about figure skating. In terms of relevant blogging, I missed the window on the European and Four Continents Championships, although I watched both and had very strong opinions at the time, most of which have been swept out of my memory in a mixture of mounting… Continue reading 2017 Asian Winter Games Recap: Triumph of the Improv Quad
6 More Things I Learned from the 2017 US National Figure Skating Championships
What’s a blogger to do when she wants to say everything about Nationals? Someone with more restraint – or an editor – might just skip stuff, but skating fans hate it when you skip stuff. As it does almost every year, NBC blacked out the live performances of a number of ladies and ice dancers in the… Continue reading 6 More Things I Learned from the 2017 US National Figure Skating Championships
5 Things I Learned from the 2017 US National Figure Skating Championships
Another U.S. Nationals is in the books, and as usual, I have a lot of opinions. So many opinions, in fact, that this is going to be a multi-part post. It’s not the only Nationals I have strong feelings about – I got out several thousand words on the Russian men a few weeks ago –… Continue reading 5 Things I Learned from the 2017 US National Figure Skating Championships
2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Ladies Part 2
The senior ladies skate their short program tonight, and I’m here right under the wire with the second part of my field guide. If you’re looking for the first half of the alphabet, here’s part 1 of my Championship Ladies’ Guide. And if you’re really just joining us, I’ve written a full set of field guides for junior… Continue reading 2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Ladies Part 2
2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Ladies Part 1
At long last – and with one day to go until they take the ice – we’ve reached what for most fans is the marquee event. From the casuals who only tune into NBC once a year to the lifers on the message boards who will wait eternally for the next Michelle Kwan, most people… Continue reading 2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Ladies Part 1
2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Men Part 2
2017 Nationals have begun! While juvenile and intermediate champions earn the first medals of the year, I’m hustling to finish guides to the top-level skaters who will compete next weekend. Since there are 21 men in this year’s senior field, I’ve split my men’s field guide into two posts. The first half of the alphabet is over… Continue reading 2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Men Part 2
2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Men Part 1
I want them all to skate brilliantly, and I know most of them are going to screw up.
2017 US Nationals Field Guide: Championship Ice Dance
The United States has the strongest ice dance program in the world. Even the Just Happy to Be Here contingent is terrific.